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Shohat Gil, composer
Shohat Gil, composer
Was born in Israel. He is the composer of nine symphonies, twelve concerti, four operas and dozens of chamber pieces, the majority of which have enjoyed Israeli and international premieres. In addition, Shohat is the Classical Music Advisor of the Israel Festival - Jerusalem, the Chief Advisor of the Red Sea International Music Festival, the founder and Artistic Director of the Elysium Ensemble, the Artistic Director of the Sounds of Youth Festival in Holon, Music Director of the Ein Hod Maestro Festival, Chief Music Director of the Kiryat Motzkin Theater and a permanent guest conductor at the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy and the Vermont Mozart Festival in the United States. In the past, Shohat has served as the Artistic Director and the Chief Conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Composer in Residence of the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Rishon LeZion. He is an active concert pianist and the Artistic Director of ten concert-lecture series in Israel. Shohat gives more than 100 concerts and lectures a year, in Israel and abroad, using all his skills to bring new and young audiences back to the concert hall.
Orchestras that have performed Shohat's music or collaborated with him as a pianist or conductor include the Berlin Symphony, the Rome Opera Orchestra, the Pomereggio Musicale Orchestra of Milan, the Cologne Radio Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony, the St. Petersburg Hermitage Orchestra, the Dohnany Orchestra of Budapest, the Bucharest Philharmonic, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra and all major Israeli orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Raanana Symphonette, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.
EMI/Virgin Classics has commissioned and recorded Gil Shohat's orchestrations. He has also collaborated with the French television channel MUSSIK, Israel's Voice of Music, Radio France, Germany's WDR, Italy's RAI, America's WFMT and Hong Kong's National Radio. Shohat's works have also been performed and/or commissioned by the Venice Biennale, the Royal Palace Music Festival in Stockholm, the Cappella Amsterdam, the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, the Music Festival of Macedonia, the Royal Palace Music Festival (Sweden), the Hermitage Festival, the Perugia Music-Fest, the Emilia Romagna Festival, the Roque d'Antheron Piano Festival (France), the Ruhr Valley Festival (Germany), the Jewish Music Festival of London and the International Music Festival of Yugoslavia.
Shohat has won numerous prizes and awards, including the Israel Conservatory Prize (1989), the Rubin Israel Music Academy Prize (1993), the Italian Government Grant for Advanced Studies (1995-1996) and the British Council Award (1997).
He has received grants from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation (1990-1998), the Bracha Foundation (2001), the Rich Foundation (2001,2005, 2007) and the Rabinovich Tel Aviv Foundation for the Arts (2001-2007). He was awarded first prize for composition from the Arthur Rubinstein International Society, making his composition the obligatory piano piece for contestants in the International Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition (1998). He is a laureate of Israel's Caesarea Edmond Benjamin de Rothschild Foundation (2001). He received the Tel Aviv Prize for the Performing Arts – Rosenbloom Prize (2002) and Israel Theater Prizes for the most significant event of the year for his opera Alpha and Omega which was commissioned by the Israeli Opera (2002) and composer of the year (2004). He won the Prime Minister's Prize for composition (2003). His sponsors include The Safra Group in Switzerland, Motorola Israel, Mr. Murray Pepper (Los Angeles), Mrs. Susan Rose (New York City) and the prestigious Soli Deo Gloria Foundation in Chicago. Gil Shohat has been a chosen artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation (IcExcellence) since 2004. Shohat's pro bono work includes charity recitals for organizations such as Latet and ESRA, as well as service on the board of the Israel Lottery's Arts Council (Mif'al Ha-Payis).